To tell the truth, we are far from the “Age of Objectivity,” pursued by the likes of Edward R. Murrow and other Great Newsmen from our past. Far from “Objectivity,” we live in the age where all news media is charged with subjective bias. Where, for better or worse, the opinions of the stations’ owners and stakeholders can play a role in the purity of a stream of information; they can increasingly tamper with a source of information to fit their interests. Where once people knew they could turn to these sources to become the informed citizenry, now these tampered information streams spread mistrust and polarized bias.
This trend towards subjectivity plays two roles in our lives and can be found between these two poles: on one side, it is giving the broadcasters the ability to change the minds of viewers of their stations, and, on the other, it puts the role of subjectivity in a dynamic position — a position of expression that it has not been in for quite some time.
∴
The Role of Public, Subjective Journaling —
Beyond “objective,” we can dive down once again into the world of emotions — that gritty door that we closed tight long, long ago. We can embrace our whole selves to figure out what really makes us tick. From this new perspective, reporting takes on a whole other kind of character. It’s one in which the journalist becomes a “Journaler” who is learning through their participation with the world, and embracing their inner space, rather than quietly reinforcing their opinion through engineering their content. A Journaler is a free reporter of Life with no agenda other than the expansion of their own consciousness.
This gives new media content platforms and other broadcasters of conscious content a unique opportunity. They can be shifted into a new and specific position — a new type of “news broadcast” — one in which the subjectivity of the experience is reported as subject matter, rather than just the objective facts.
Here’s what it looks like: the Journaler uses the mixed media landscape to their advantage, broadcasting their interviews, conversations, streams, and vlogs. All this serves as their secondary media for the main content, which is a series about them reflecting on their evolving inner world. This method helps the Journaler to stay rooted in style and history of News Media, while taking a page from the modern reality TV show and vlog-style methods of reflection. Subjectivity is brought to the foreground and the “objective,” traditional content, is used as backdrop — as a lily pad — for the journalist’s reflections. What is relayed, then, is their movement through their own subjective world.
These Journalers aren’t grabbing the minutes of a monologue from a politician or other thinker, then trying to shape that speakers words in to fit the story’s perspective later on. They just aren’t trying to grab a moment in that way. Instead, they weave themselves into the moment by reporting on their developing consciousness through their observation, and the moments that teach them them how to Be.
This is a Heart-Centered approach to reporting; it’s really journaling more than journalism, and these Journalers are artists, innovators, poets, reporters, writers, videographers, and conscious explorers of the Unknown. They are driven to better understand themselves and their role in the world, and they come closer to this knowledge through their exploration with the ones they talk to. What’s most important, too, is that they have the bravery to relay their thoughts, feelings— to show us their evolution through their intimate relationship with their work as it meets the boundaries of their perspective. These Journalers in this Landscape are bound only by their imagination, and two principles: (1) their driving light is their pursuit of their inner Wonder, and (2) they live in a constant rebirth — assuming nothing and soaking in everything.
They are capturing their thoughts, feelings, and emotions in an attempt to transform themselves; they attempt to expand their own consciousness. As their journey continues, their content pours out into the world, and their story spirals upward as it writes itself. Guided by the winds of an Open-Hearted Life, these Journalers travel through the dark Unknown — that murky wash of feelings and emotions, where opinions are free to shift and change, and in their bravery, these Journalers do just one thing: relay to us all from the lantern-light of their ship the mysterious Wonders on yonder shore.
∴
💓 With Love, JWS.